Back in the park, the battle continued to rage. Off to one side, Scourge slammed Lucky’s head into a rock as the two struggled, and Lucky went limp. “Honestly, what were you thinking?” He stepped off his foe, looking around for his gun, and finally spotted it ten feet away. “I’m stronger than you, better trained, and above all mystically empowered. You never stood a chance.” He gestured towards the gun, which flew from the ground towards him, and looked back to his enemy. “I think we can see who’s the superior one.”

There was a flare of light, and the gun shattered in midair. Scourge turned sharply to see Handyman standing easily a few yards away, laser in one hand. “I think we can see that you jumped the gun on that one.” He said.

“Was that supposed to be a pun?” Scourge raised an eyebrow.

“Coincidence, actually.” Handyman shrugged, aiming his gun. “So, Lucky’s alive and you have luck. Care to see whose field is stronger?”

Scourge glanced around the battlefield, then grinned viciously. “Bring it on, Sayleen. You don’t have a chance.”

Explosions went off around him, and he found himself forced onto the defensive, fleeing from Lucky. The unconscious hero was miraculously unharmed by the blast pattern, as Handyman advanced with another brace of grenades. “I’m getting really sick of people using that as a title!” He almost yelled.

Elsewhere, Malleus Kaine had lost track of Lucky in the face of a better force. Timebender was racing around him, dodging crimson blasts of energy and moments when the entire landscape reshaped itself around her, the earth reaching up to drag her down. A short distance away, La Brea’s psionic projections were dragging at his body, turned aside by more shielding spells. Sweat beaded his brow as he used his own energy to maintain his spells, but there was a savage grin on his face. “I’ve been waiting for this day ever since you destroyed my team, Timebender!” He yelled triumphantly. “Today, I am going to kill every one of you bitches, and I am going to kill that traitor Ladd, and it will be glorious!”

“Shove it, Kaine.” Timebender leapt through the air, impacting squarely with Kaine’s shield and hammering at it as she slipped downwards, then dashed to avoid another blast. “I’m not interested in your justifications.”

“Are you seriously still mad about that?” La Brea asked incredulously. “That was years ago. And it wasn’t even our fault – your teammate went psycho on you and broke half the laws in the Accord!”

“SILENCE!” Malleus roared. “You don’t know anything! Optica was pushed to the edge by your constant attempts to seduce Ladd away from us! It was all your fault!”

“Hoo boy.” Timebender shifted direction, pulling La Brea away from an explosion that tore up several yards of parkland. “This is going well.” She glanced over at her companions, and her heart sank, even as she slowed time to give herself a chance to consider the situation. On the bridge, Clockwork seemed to be having a fairly easy time dodging Blindsight’s constant attacks. The veteran superhero was trying to cover Strategos to give her time to wake up, but Clockwork wasn’t letting up on his own attacks. Neither one spoke, as they exchanged blows with perfect accuracy and pauses, giving their battle the air of a dance – one that Clockwork was clearly going to be able to keep up longer than his opponent.

Above the lake, things were going even worse, if that was possible. Warzone, deflecting hundred-pound chunks of concrete like so many nerf rockets as Powerblock attempted to bombard him, had grabbed Stormfront around the waist and was rocketing towards the ground with her in his grasp. Lightning blazing around them was having no effect, and even though she could see that Bloodline was slowing the villain, it barely seemed to matter. Timebender raced out from her own battle, grabbing Stormfront out of Warzone’s grasp, and saw him raising his hand into her path. She dodged to one side, only to find a knee already in the process of rising there. As it struck, time returned to normal for her with staggering suddenness.

Timebender was sent careening to one side, knocking Bloodline head over heels. Stormfront recovered and started to gain altitude, bombarding Warzone with more blasts, and he looked up at her just as another flight of rocks came his way. “It’s not nice to interrupt another man’s fight.” He said grimly, snatching two chunks of concrete out of the air. One sailed towards Stormfront, knocking her out of the sky, and he sent the other falling towards a dazed Timebender.

There was another blur of motion, and the concrete was reversed back towards him. Warzone brought his fist down, smashing the rock to fragments, as he crossed his hands against a larger impact. For a moment, the battle paused, everyone watching as a newcome slammed into Warzone’s chest, carrying him high into the air.

Sitting up, Bloodline narrowed his eyes. “That looks like…”

Timebender gaped in confusion, and then she let out a whoop of joy. “That looks like reinforcements!” She turned her attention back to the battle. “Bloodline, get Stormfront out of the water and then go help Blindsight. Powerblock, you’re with me!” She raced back towards Malleus Kaine as he turned the full fury of his power on La Brea.

In the air, Warzone was buffeted by powerful blows as he let himself be carried up. A moment later, he had disengaged and was staring at his opponent. “I might have known.” He said sourly.

“You should have.” Across from him, Dudeman cracked his knuckles with a grin, standing easily on his flying surfboard. “I had a feeling you’d all show up here, Warzone. It’s time to finish this.”